Certain problems and limitations in the art of automated laboratory sampling equipment are described in commonly owned U.S. patent application Ser. No. 12/717,876, filed Mar. 4, 2010; commonly owned U.S. patent application Ser. No. 12/687,129, filed Jan. 14, 2010; and commonly owned U.S. patent application Ser. No. 12/616,783, filed Nov. 12, 2009, and published as US 2010/0116876.
In addition, it has been recognized that certain problems currently exist relating to the multitude of available sample vial sizes, such that no single standardized vial is utilized across the board in the medical, substance testing, and related industries. Accordingly, a machine for automated sample processing must be adapted to accept a variety of vial designs, or a manual transfer of the sample to an accepted vial design may be required.
Various embodiments herein seek to address one or more limitations relating to these and other vial design attributes.